What's behind the anti-Obama outcry?

Sept. 18, 2009

Updated Aug. 21, 2013 12:28 p.m.

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WASHINGTON - SEPTEMBER 12: Protesters talk with each other on Capitol Hill during the Tea Party Express rally on September 12, in Washington, DC. Thousands of protesters gathered in Washington to march to the Capitol Hill to protest high spending, higher taxes and the growth of the federal government. BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI, GETTY IMAGES

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Protesters march and hold signs during the Tea Party Express rally on September 12, 2009 in Washington, DC. Thousands of protesters gathered in Washington to march to the Capitol Hill to protest high spending, higher taxes and the growth of the federal government. BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI, GETTY IMAGES

1 of 5

WASHINGTON - SEPTEMBER 12: Protesters gather and hold signs during the Tea Party Express rally on September 12, 2009 in Washington, DC. Thousands of protesters gathered in Washington to march to the Capitol Hill to protest high spending, higher taxes and the growth of the federal government. BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI, GETTY IMAGES

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Protesters pass the National Archives during the Tea Party Express rally on September 12, 2009 in Washington, DC. Thousands of protesters gathered in Washington to march to the Capitol Hill to protest high spending, higher taxes and the growth of the federal government. BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI, GETTY IMAGES

1 of 5

Protesters gather on Capitol Hill during the Tea Party Express rally on September 12 in Washington, DC. Thousands of protesters gathered in Washington to march to the Capitol Hill to protest high spending, higher taxes and the growth of the federal government. BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI, GETTY IMAGES

WASHINGTON - SEPTEMBER 12: Protesters talk with each other on Capitol Hill during the Tea Party Express rally on September 12, in Washington, DC. Thousands of protesters gathered in Washington to march to the Capitol Hill to protest high spending, higher taxes and the growth of the federal government.BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI, GETTY IMAGES

Some say that bashing presidents is the national political sport. But in recent weeks that sport has taken on an edge that begs the question: Is there more going on here than disagreements over policy?

Angry protestors at August town halls called President Barack Obama a socialist. Last weekend's Tea Party Express demonstration in the shadow of the Capitol featured signs caricaturing the leader of the free world as a witch doctor. And Rep. Joe Wilson shouted "you lie' as Obama talked to Congress about health care.

The atmosphere has turned ugly.

Rather than confine their attacks on the White House to issues like health care or the economy, conservatives have zeroed in on second-tier issues that they knew had the potential to elicit a visceral reaction from people who may otherwise not get involved in political discourse.

A Republican chairman in Florida started the furor over whether it was appropriate for Obama to speak to school children. And this week the GOP has done its best to tie Obama to ACORN, the community organizing group that has been in the Repubicans' sights since the presidential campaign.

Obama's campaign relied on ACORN to register voters and there were irregularities with the work they did, most notably registering phony names like "Mickey Mouse." As a series of sting videos by conservative activists showed, the group's leaders were clearly not too smart about who they hired to staff some local offices, Democrats were blamed for supporting and funding such an organization.

I talked to three top political scientists, from across the idealogical spectrum, and all agreed that angry public discourse has a long history in turbulent times. They referenced the often violent anti-war protests of the 1960s and the anti-Iraq war demonstrators who put Hitler mustaches on President George W. Bush.

"What we're seeing is populism in the broadest sense, people reacting against what they think is elite,'' says Jack Pitney, a political scientist at Claremont McKenna College.

But these experts do seem some differences this time.

Race is a factor

For University of Virginia political scientist Larry Sabato, race is the new dimension. "We have layered on the Obama presidency the whole difficulty of race relations in the United States,'' he says. "That's what makes everything so sensitive.''

Sabato believes that Wilson's comment during Obama's joint session speech got so much attention because Obama is a black man.

"With Obama it became a question of respect,'' said Sabato. African Americans are particularly sensitive, he said, to such criticism.

While race may have been an undercurrent during much of the summer's tirades, it was brought out into the open in the aftermath of the passage of a House resolution admonishing Wilson. And what was highlighted were over-the-top comments from both sides; rhetoric that hasn't helped either side's cause.

Fox News commentator Glenn Beck's July 28th statement that Obama "is a guy who has a deep-seated hatred for White people" was resurrected and has been repeated over and over. And President Jimmy Carter said this past week that he believes "an overwhelming portion of the intensely demonstrated animosity toward President Barack Obama is based on the fact that he is a black man."

Comments like that infuriate Orange County Republican Chairman Scott Baugh.

"To suggest that disagreement with this president over his policies is racially motivated is ridiculous,'' says Baugh. "It says we're not allowed to disagree because the man happens to be black. That's nuts. That's crazy. That is not a prison that conservatives are going to allow themselves to be placed in.''

Wylie Aitken, chairman of the Democratic Foundation of Orange County also downplayed race. "I don't think it's a racial issue at all,'' he said. "I think it's truly an issue of individuals who think they have the right to control all parts of our lives. I don't think it matters to them at all the color of Obama."

A new media game

Whether or not race is playing a role, there is one undeniable difference from previous administrations. And that's the way people are getting their information and who they are getting it from.

When people protested the Vietnam War there were newspapers, the Big Three television networks and some radio stations to spread the word.

Today it's difficult to name all the ways people get information. There are still newspapers and network news, but cable news, internet blogs and TV and radio shows that blend news with commentary, political activism and satire deliver information that is often more entertainment than fact. Like a flawed game of telephone, the messages aren't always clear or accurate.

'The problem today is that there is a lot less reporting and a lot more opining,'' says Pitney. "And most of the commentary consists of chewing from the mainstream media.''

Norm Ornstein, a longtime Congress watcher and fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, said the scramble for people's attention and for ratings and readers is driving messages on-air and the Internet that never would have seen the light of day before.

Whatever the temperature of the criticisms of Obama and of Congress, the activists and experts I talked to said that behind the tone are genuine differences in policy. Some same it's more acute because of the economic condition people find themselves in, particularly the millions of unemployed. Others say people are waking up to just what direction Obama wants to take the country.

Despite the fact that Obama made it clear he wanted to radically change the direction the nation was going, that he planned a sweeping health reform, to be followed by climate change and immigration overhauls, there's a sense that somehow these proposals were unexpected.

"What's happening now is a recognition of what the real meaning of the last election was and people are surprised and dismayed and thus they are activated,'' suggested Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Huntington Beach, a former speechwriter for President Ronald Reagan.

GOP uses radical strategy

Being the party out of power, particularly with the large Democratic margins in the House and Senate, Republicans and their allies need to find a way to derail the majority's efforts.

In this regard, says Pitney, they have taken a page from '60s radical Saul Alinsky, the father of community organizing and radical dissent. Here's a phrase from Alinsky's "Rules for Radicals": "Next the organizer must begin the task of agitating: rubbing resentments, fanning hostilities, and searching out controversy. This is necessary to get people to participate."

Sound familiar?

Republicans clearly hope that the town halls and other protests will slow down the Democrats' agenda. And I wonder what Sen. Max Baucus' health care proposal would have looked like had August been the kind of sleepy political month it usually is. The GOP knows that absent such public agitation, Democrats have the votes to steamroll them and pass whatever they want without GOP support.

If that happens, particularly when it comes to healthcare, Republican activist Chip Hanlon of Huntington Beach, the head honcho of Red County, warned that recent events "will look like a warm-up.''

John Hanna, a former O.C. Democratic party chairman and delegate to the 2008 Democratic Convention, said what his party needs to do is "not fall for the cheap shots. They need to focus on policy and need to give people an opportunity to be heard.''

And they need to have the courage, he said, "pass whatever agenda they feel best and then let the voters decide."

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